Trinamool will dislodge LF in Tripura, says Mukul Roy

Agartala, June 7 (IANS) On the day six Congress legislators joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Tripura, the Left Front government here came under sharp attack of TMC Vice President Mukul Roy, who vowed to dislodge the ruling dispensation in the state.

“TMC is now the main opposition political force in Tripura. The party would fight tooth and nail to dislodge the Left Front government and establish a TMC-led government here in 2018 assembly polls,” said Roy, who came here on Tuesday — his second visit to the Left-ruled state in five days.

“The second innings have started today (Tuesday) to vote out the Left government in 2018 polls,” he said while addressing the media.

Roy also asked Trinamool workers to retaliate against the Left Front cadres’ attacks.

Later, a TMC delegation led by Roy and former Leader of Opposition Sudip Roy Barman met Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy and apprised him of the “deteriorating law-and-order situation” in the state.

Earlier on Tuesday, six Congress legislators led by Sudip Roy Barman joined the Trinamool Congress.

Another Congress legislator, Jitendra Sarkar, had resigned from the Tripura assembly and said he would rejoin the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). A five-term CPI-M legislator and a former Speaker of the Tripura assembly, Sarkar had joined the Congress in March 2010.

The Congress now has only three legislators in the 60-member house.

TMC Tripura unit Chairman Ratan Chakraborty in a letter to assembly Speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath said that party’s Chairperson Mamata Banerjee has authorised him to communicate her decision on accepting the six Congress legislators into the TMC party fold.

Meanwhile, Tripura Congress President Birajit Sinha said the party is the only alternative political force in Tripura.

“With the exit of the six MLAs from the party, the Congress would be purified,” Sinha said.

Congress leader Tapas Dey said that AICC Secretary Bhupen Bora, who was sent by the central leadership in Delhi to deal with the latest crisis, held a series of meetings with the state leadership.